When I was little, learning was often a process of overcoming the difficulty of sitting still long enough, to focus on rather boring material. I enjoyed writing or performing, because those were imaginary wonderful worlds, but facts and figures never stayed concrete for long. Soon equations would start making up their own stories and by the end of the assignment, the numerators were the pompous elitists and didn’t realize that the denominators were plotting to overthrow them. Seven times six equaled 42, which sat under the eves in a rain storm, while Eight was a large medieval ogre that bullied and intimidated the lower numbers. Fortunately the Nines were angels that curved protectively around the others and helped deliver them to the land of Tens. Wonderful strong Tens. The first little numbers that used the buddy system.
Needless to say - I didn’t go far in math and sciences.
Jump ahead by a whole bunch of years, and while I have conquered basic math and can even balance a spreadsheet, I’m learning about a whole new world that is taking my love of make-believe and stories and turning them into images for other. I’m learning how to write and make movies. Not in a formal setting, but in every film I work on, with each screenplay I write, and on each set I’m lucking enough to be on. My material is my life, my teachers are my friends and it’s a school I’ll be enrolled in for the rest of my life.